Sign in

Laurie Muchnick

@lauriemuchnick.bsky.social
3.9K followers 1.5K following 715 posts

Fiction editor at Kirkus Reviews. Welsh by marriage. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿✡️📚

PostsRepliesMedia
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Is there literally anyone left who thinks "Kennedy-esque good looks" is a qualification for anything, except some headline writer at the Times who seems not to have read the newspaper lately? Even Ben Rhodes doesn't use that description in his actual piece. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Can Rob Sand Break the Republican Grip on Iowa?
Just shy of 44 with boyish good looks, Rob Sand is very much a moderate, but he has a withering critique of the political establishment in this country.
010
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
There are literally still fireworks going off in Brooklyn. Or am I hallucinating?
000
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Dolan still sucks.
0183
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Calling a halt on all future use of the phrase "the late, great ..."
140
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
I'm pretty sure my grandmother had that dress in 1974.
300
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
I feel it's my duty as the Last Print Subscriber to let people know this. The staff critics are running in the Book Review, not the weekday paper, which is a big change, and cuts down on the number of reviews. And features like the death of mass market paperbacks also run in the book review.
55923
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 28/02/2026
I know this feels pointless but everyone has to call their congressional reps and say they oppose war with Iran and they oppose Trump illegally starting one without congressional approval — both 5 Calls can help you make the call: 5calls.org/issue/iran-i...
61310793
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
kelly jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
A nationwide book ban bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives. Here's what you need to know about HR7661, including who is behind it, the history behind such bills, and what you need to do to stop it. bookriot.com/hr7661-book-...
bookriot.com
A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives
Hours after the State of the Union address, House republicans introduced legislation banning LGBTQ+ books from public schools nationwide.
2425441
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Are you a Heated Rivalry fan who wants to learn more about Rachel Reid's Game Changers series? Jen Prokop and Kirkus are here to help! www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-fea...
kirkusreviews.com
A Guide to the Novels Behind ‘Heated Rivalry’ | Kirkus Reviews
You’ve watched the hit HBO series, and you’re curious about Rachel Reid’s books. Here’s what you need to know.
051
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
In 2003, I had a fellowship at the Columbia Journalism School as part of the National Arts Journalism Program (RIP). The program was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, because—and this is my memory from a long time ago but I think it's pretty accurate—they were looking for a way to support arts...
173
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Besides the splendid @roncharles.bsky.social and @johnwilliams.bsky.social and Becca Rothfeld, I'm thinking about former editors Nina King and Marie Arana and Jabari Asim and Michael Dirda. Book World has long had a unique and often surprising voice. What a terrible loss.
2348
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Just saw this interesting association copy in the basement of the Strand. I would have bought it but I already have a copy of the book!
A copy of the book The Modern English Library: The 200 Best Novels in English Since 1950 by Carmen Callil and Colm Toibin; I'm holding a note I found inside the book addressed "Dear Sonny," presumably Sonny Mehta, from the publicity director of Macmillan, whose business card is attached.
270
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Ugh, how did Kirkus get mixed up in this?
080
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
There are so many great publishers in Minneapolis—one thing the rest of us can do is support their books. Here are a few recent novels from Coffee House, Graywolf, and Milkweed sure to give the goons from ICE a stroke: www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-fea...
kirkusreviews.com
In Solidarity, Read a Book From a Minnesota Press | Kirkus Reviews
Publishers like Coffee House, Graywolf, and Milkweed are international in outlook and open to voices beyond the mainstream.
14822
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Kimberly Burns @kimberlyburns.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
🎉 Meg is back at Kirkus and acquired @audiofilemagazine.bsky.social Thank for sharing the news @shelf-awareness.com 🎉 www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...
shelf-awareness.com
Kirkus Buys AudioFile Magazine; Kuehn Returns as CEO and Publisher
Kirkus has bought AudioFile magazine, which publishes more than 2,500 audiobook reviews a year and was founded in 1992 by Robin Whitten. A&#
0113
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Got phone surveyed about next year's primary by Dan Goldman's team today. He's worried about Brad Lander running. As he should be.
040
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
Also, anyone who doesn't know the difference between rent controlled and rent stabilized has no business running for mayor of New York.
1151
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Liz Lopatto nails the problem with the NYT. It's been sucking up to the right for years but it's only getting worse.
0140
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Kristen Evans @paperalphabet.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
i keep thinking about how monumental what we are contending with is, as a project. it’s congress & electoral politics; it’s the judiciary; and it’s what passes for mainstream media outlets at the moment. anyway, this is a good thread about the misguided and reactionary policies of the times 👇🏻
031
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
It is a sad day, but the Post's Metro section lasted a lot longer than the NYT's did.
091
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Sarah Russo @sarahrusso.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Dear friends, we've launch a change to the way we offer grants to underrepresented writers at @pageonem.bsky.social. I hope you'll read and share with your colleagues and writers. Thanks!
044
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Congratulations @langealexandra.bsky.social !!!
3102
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
When I inadvertently listened to all six Austen novels on audiobook—all praise to Juliet Stevenson!—I was surprised by how many books *about* Austen I had scattered around the house waiting to be read. www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-fea...
kirkusreviews.com
Travels in Austenland: Our Fiction Editor Binges | Kirkus Reviews
Laurie Muchnick listened to all six Jane Austen novels on audiobook. Then she went next level.
040
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
It's been a tough few months for the Village Voice since @tromano.bsky.social's book came out, losing Jim Ledbetter, David Schneiderman, Jules Feiffer, and now Karen Durbin.
181
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
It's definitely good that the Trump administration is making a list of Jews at Barnard to "protect" them that's sure to end well.
2115
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
What the absolute fuck. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/n...
nytimes.com
U.S. Texts Barnard Employees and Asks if They Are Jewish
A questionnaire from a federal commission also inquired about whether professors and other college staff members had been harassed.
291
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Just saw a book description inviting me to "travel back in time to 1997 in this cozy, slow-burn romance." Do you think the writer was thinking that 1997 was just before everything started to go off the rails with Bush v. Gore and Citizens United?
260
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
If you hear crickets that’s the antisemitism task force springing into action
5527118
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Days before masked ICE agents detained Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk to deport her, Dept determined that the admin had not produced any evidence showing she engaged in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
washingtonpost.com
No evidence linking Tufts student to antisemitism or terrorism, State Dept. office found
An internal memo, prepared before Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk was detained by ICE, raises doubts about the Trump administration’s claims that she supports Hamas.
401931612
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Here's a surprise! New Pynchon novel SHADOW TICKET coming 10.7 from Penguin Press. In 1932, a Milwaukee PI is hired to find a missing cheese heiress and finds himself in Hungary with no heiress in sight—but lots of Nazis, Soviet and British spies, and more. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/316427...
penguinrandomhouse.com
Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon: 9781594206108 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
The new novel from Thomas Pynchon Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation busines...
140
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
The police clearly have different friends on social media than I do or they would have known that everyone was going to be there.
0101
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Military historian teaching in the Army’s most elite officer training school booted to the curb, along with his entire department; the base which houses it, itself historic, to be shuttered.
Zachery Fry @WarHistoryProf• 1d
This is the post I never wanted to have to make.
Earlier today, news arrived that my position as a history professor for US Army CGSC has been eliminated in accordance with DOD cuts.
There is no chance of reassignment, and the entire Fort Belvoir campus will be stood down.
18491182
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Alex Shephard @alexshephard.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
"they view"
718730
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Eileen Ridge @eileen4ever.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
This is just to say
02711
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Jessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
It has been two weeks since a Georgia woman was arrested for her miscarriage, and not one major national outlet has covered the story
238124575131
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
As part of our Best Books of the 21st Century package, we highlighted the impact of a few titles. Here's @michaelschaub.bsky.social on THE CORRECTIONS: www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-fea...
kirkusreviews.com
Best of the Century: ‘The Corrections’ | Kirkus Reviews
Revisiting Jonathan Franzen’s 2001 novel.
020
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
As someone who is not Jewish watching this destruction carried out by others who are not Jewish, that part looks intentional. Trump, Musk, et al want these acts of vandalism and sabotage to be in the name of the Jews, to appear to be at their behest. They want to shift the blame to them.
543280
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
kelly jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
DOGE has just completely gutted the IMLS, firing all staff, closing down their email addresses, and leaving any funding for 2025 in question. bookriot.com/imls-gutted/
bookriot.com
The Institute for Museum and Library Services Was Just Gutted
DOGE fired all IMLS employees and closed down their emails. It is assumed all funding for 2025 coming from the federal agency will not be happening.
411120724
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Here's a fun thing: We at Kirkus have spent the last few months reading and debating the best books of the 21st century (so far!) in fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature. Here's the list of 100 fiction titles: www.kirkusreviews.com/fiction/best...
kirkusreviews.com
Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far) | Kirkus Reviews
26483122
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Bluesky "The Pull Out King" Ferreira @ninegod.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Wolf Hall as a trilogy is so good that I'm amazed people don't talk about it constantly. I should see posts about it the way I see people post about Moby Dick
292
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Here's a fun thing: We at Kirkus have spent the last few months reading and debating the best books of the 21st century (so far!) in fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature. Here's the list of 100 fiction titles: www.kirkusreviews.com/fiction/best...
kirkusreviews.com
Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far) | Kirkus Reviews
26483122
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Ella Dawson @brosandprose.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
How do romance readers actually respond when authors make their politics clear? In this week's REBEL EVER AFTER, @joannashupe.bsky.social told me about the backlash she received when she pointed out the connections between the Gilded Age and today. Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/5RDn...
“I did get a surprisingly high number of replies saying, ‘How dare you, we don't want to hear [about politics] from you. F*ck off.’ I've written about the Comstock Laws, the Chinese Exclusion act, class conflict — issues in the Gilded Age that we're still dealing with today. I'm clear in what I'm trying to say, I'm not hiding anything. So it was surprising to get such a high number of responses that were negative, telling me ‘I'm never going to read you again.’ Well, good. You obviously are missing the point.”

- Joanna Shupe
37017
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Now that I've listened to all the Jane Austen audiobooks, plus A JANE AUSTEN EDUCATION by Bill Deresiewicz, I've been trying to decide whether to go on with secondary sources but I just had a brainstorm: It's Brontë time.
140
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
The last few weeks have been full of 5-year anniversaries of so many bad things—last day in the office before lockdown, etc.—but I was reminded today that it's the 4th anniversary of my first Covid vaccine, and what a miracle that was. Too bad it seems to have sent so many people around the bend.
080
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
So exciting to hear Maxine Hong Kingston speak at the @bookcritics.bsky.social awards ceremony. WOMAN WARRIOR was one of the first nonfiction winners and she's here to celebrate the group's 50th anniversary.
Maxine Hong Kingston standing on a stage, wearing a black sparkly dress.
280
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
How the hell does New York get all the worst Dems?
010
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
I just finished my accidental re-read of all of Jane Austen and I'm feeling a bit adrift. Let me recommend Juliet Stevenson's audiobooks if you're so inclined.
190
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
I did just get through and managed to leave a voicemail at the DC office. Let's keep trying!
130
Laurie Muchnick @lauriemuchnick.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Schumer's DC voicemail is off, as is the VM at his NYC office. I usually have luck with Melville but that one didn't work either; nor did Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Peekskill, Syracuse, etc. Here are the numbers if you want to tell him to get a spine: www.schumer.senate.gov @schumer.senate.gov
schumer.senate.gov
Home | U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York
The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Chuck Schumer of New York
6259
Reposted by Laurie Muchnick
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
🚨 Everyone needs to call their Dem Senator right now. They are starting to cave. Tell them: 1. Vote NO on Cloture AND 2. Vote NO on the Republican spending bill. Don’t let them pivot to reconciliation. GOP doesn’t need Dem votes on that and they know it. TODAY is the showdown. 🤳🏽: (202) 224-3121
25515379918603